Adverse pressure gradient turbulent flows over rough walls

An experimental study of a fully developed turbulent channel flow and an adverse pressure gradient (APG) turbulent channel flow over smooth and rough walls has been performed using a particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The rough walls comprised two-dimensional square ribs of nominal height, k = 3 mm and pitch, p = 2k, 4k and 8k. It was observed that rib roughness enhanced the drag characteristics, and the degree of enhancement increased with increasing pitch. Similarly, rib roughness significantly increased the level of turbulence production, Reynolds stresses and wall-normal transport of turbulence kinetic energy and Reynolds shear stress well beyond the roughness sublayer. On the contrary, the distributions of the eddy viscosity, mixing length and streamwise transport of turbulence kinetic energy and Reynolds shear stress were reduced by wall roughness, especially in the outer layer. Adverse pressure gradient produced a further reduction in the mean velocity (in comparison to the results obtained in the parallel section) but increased the wall-normal extent across which the mean flow above the ribs is spatially inhomogeneous in the streamwise direction. APG also reinforced wall roughness in augmenting the equivalent sand grain roughness height. The combination of wall roughness and APG significantly increased turbulence production and Reynolds stresses except in the immediate vicinity of the rough walls. The transport velocities of the turbulence kinetic energy and Reynolds shear stress were also augmented by APG across most part of the rough-wall boundary layer. Further, APG enhanced the distributions of the eddy viscosity across most of the boundary layer but reduced the mixing length outside the roughness sublayer.

► Ribs enhanced drag parameters and turbulence level compared to turbulent flow over a smooth wall. ► APG increased the equivalent sand grain roughness height and turbulence level. ► APG produced a broad, flat hump in the outer region of the Reynolds stresses.